Through the Pensieve
by freudianprincess
Summary: A collection of memories/moments from Annalisse Blayke's childhood. This is a companion piece to Radioactive that can be read as a stand-alone collection of one-shots or alongside Radioactive. If you read this before Radioactive, it won't ruin any crucial plot elements for the main story.


**A/N:** So... as the title says, this is a companion "story" to Radioactive. Basically, this is a collection of one-shots that covers Anna's life at many different ages. The ages don't run chronologically because I tried to write them to go in the order of certain plot elements in the main story.

THESE CHAPTERS CAN BE READ AS A STAND-ALONE COLLECTION OF ONE-SHOTS but I think they would be much more fun to read alongside Radioactive.

Reviews and PMs are welcomed and will help me make sure that my readers are getting everything they need.

So... without further ado... ENJOY!

-FP

_**Annalisse- Age 15**_

"Dad is going to kill us if he finds us in here." Ambrose whispered to his sister as they slowly crept down the stairs to the basement training room of the Blayke family plantation. One wrong step and the stairs would creak, alerting any living being to their presence.

"No… dad is going to kill _me_ if he catches us. He will assume that I found a way to coerce the counter lock spells out of you. Plus, as his son, you are actually allowed to be down here." Anna bit back as she glanced back over her shoulder to address her brother. In the faint light of her illuminated wand, she could just barely make out the outline to his face. They didn't want to risk anymore light than was necessary to get them down to the training room.

"Why is coming down here so important to you, Birdy?"

Anna was silent as she thought about her reasoning. When she was five, she would have said because she wanted to be just like her brother. When she was eleven years old, she would have said because she wanted to make her father take notice of her and be proud. Now, as a fifteen year old, she wanted to prove her father wrong. She was strong, she was brave, and she could be just as good of an Auror as her brother was, everyone else be damned.

"Will you just open the door?" Anna asked anxiously, choosing to ignore her brother's question.

Ambrose pulled out his wand and began whispering the anti-locking charms to the training room. It took five minutes worth of incantations before the door to the room clicked open and allowed the siblings entrance. As they stepped into the room, candles flickered to life in their sconces, lighting the room in an eerie glow.

"What do you want to work on tonight?" Ambrose asked as he stepped into the center of the room.

Anna bit her lower lip as she thought, "Can we do daggers?"

Her brother nodded as he summoned a practice dummy at the opposite end of the room. Wordlessly he walked over to the weapons storage closet next to the door they had entered through. He pulled out a set of daggers that was wrapped in a leather sheath and gestured for his sister to stand next to him as he unrolled the leather and spread out the daggers on a table he had summoned.

"First, I want you to come and pick up a dagger." Ambrose instructed his sister.

Doing as he asked, Anna walked over to the table and picked up a dagger by the handle. She looked to her brother wondering what to do next. "Now what?"

"Throw it at the dummy."

Anna threw the dagger at the dummy without any thought. There was a clattering sound as the dagger fell to the floor, barely halfway from the dummy. The auburn hair let out a frustrated sigh as she turned to her brother for further instruction.

"Go retrieve the dagger." He instructed. His face did not betray any sort of sign of whether or not he was embarrassed by her.

Fighting off the feeling of inadequacy, Anna went to retrieve the dagger before moving back to her starting position. Her arms hung limply at her sides, the dagger firmly clutched in her right hand. Ambrose moved next to his sister and lifted up her hand holding the dagger.

Loosening her fingers from their grip on the dagger, he took it from her hands. "To throw the dagger, you need to hold it by the blade. This will allow you to use the weight of the handle to propel it further." He explained as he flipped the dagger so the blade now rested in her palm. "Now, when you go to throw, you first need to feel the weight of what you are throwing. Some may be heavier than others and will require more force, others are lighter and require less. Being able to feel the weight will help you conserve your energy in a fight because you won't be wasting energy throwing a lighter dagger."

Anna nodded, soaking up all of the information her brother was feeding her. She looked up to her brother and he was a highly skilled fighter. Ambrose would never feed her a crock of bull when it came to something that could potentially save her life.

"When it comes to setting up the throw for the dagger," Ambrose continued as he stepped behind his sister, "you want to stand slightly sideways with your legs spread so that you have a strong base to work from. Whichever leg you have forward and closer to the target, you want to make sure you aim your toes in the direction of your throw. Always have your target in mind before you throw." He corrected her posture as he spoke. "Last, when you actually throw the dagger, you bring your arm up while taking a deep breath in, and then… throw, with a big exhale." He concluded as he brought her arm through the motions and then assisted her in throwing the dagger.

When the dagger landed in the dummy, Anna turned to her brother, eyes alight with excitement and joy. "That was awesome!"

"Now you need to do it without my help." Ambrose instructed as he stepped away from his sister.

Anna moved to pick up another dagger, remembering what her brother said about how to hold it and weighing it. However, caught up in her excitement, she forgot everything he had said about proper alignment so, while the dagger flew further, it merely graced the dummy before clattering to the floor behind it.

"Birdy, remember what I said about squaring yourself off and having your target in mind before throwing." Ambrose spoke as he handed her another dagger, "Try again. This time don't forget any steps." He added.

Anna took the dagger and went through all of the steps as her brother had instructed her. This time, when she released the dagger, it sailed smoothly through the air and landed squared in the dummy's head. Slowly, Anna turned to her brother trying to contain her excitement. His face showed no emotion and she started to feel discouraged but then a smile crept onto his face. Anna smiled brightly as Ambrose brought her another dagger.

"Do it again." He instructed.

The night went on like this- Anna throwing each of the daggers in the set before going and retrieving them from the practice dummy- her brother cheering her on and guiding her as she needed it.

"You're getting really good at this. Pretty soon you will be passing me in skill." Ambrose complimented Anna as he pulled the daggers out of the dummy so Anna could begin her tenth round.

"Shut up, Ammy." Anna replied.

"I'm being serious! You're really good. You should seriously consider becoming an Auror."

"I wish." Anna said sadly as her mouth fell into a frown.

"You'll be eighteen in a couple of years, then it won't matter what Dad has to say about the matter."

"Except dad is the head Auror, in case you have forgotten. There is no way he would accept me into the program. He would much rather sell me off as a pureblood housewife to the richest bidder."

"So then go to Europe. The training program in Britain is amazing from what I've seen while visiting there with dad."

Anna was about to reply but didn't get the chance to as the last person she wished to see burst into the room.

"WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS?" their father shouted angrily at Anna.

"I was just..." Anna began to explain but was cut off by her father as he turned to address her brother.

"Ambrose, did she put you up to this? Did she trick you into letting her into the room?" He asked him. Behind their father Anna gave her brother an '_I told you so' _look.

"If she tricked me into this, do you think I would be standing here helping her?" Ambrose smarted back.

"She could have you under some sort of spell. Tell me, do you feel as if you are drugged?" Carsen asked as he moved toward his son and began feeling his head. Anna rolled her eyes.

Ambrose swatted away his father's hands before replying. "I'm helping her under free will."

"Why would do such a stupid thing?" Carsen looked as his son incredulously and stepped back a few steps as if whatever was going on with Ambrose was contagious.

"Because, unlike you, I believe she would be great as an Auror."

Carsen laughed in disbelief. "You think that _she_ would be a great Auror? Women have no business in professions such as that. She will marry into another pureblood family where she can become someone else's problem."

"Dad, you should train her. I'm serious. She would be really good. One of your best even." Ambrose defended Anna as he gave her a reassuring look.

"I will not train her and that is final."

"If you don't train her, then I will no longer train with you and I will go off to... healer school." Ambrose shot back as an ultimatum. Anna's jaw dripped at what her brother had just done.

If there was one thing Carsen Blayke hated more than women as Aurors, it was men as healers. Ambrose knew that, and he knew how to use it to his advantage. Carsen would never risk the humiliation of his own prodigy quitting as an Auror and becoming a healer.

Carsen rounded on Anna. "So... you want to be an Auror? Well then here is your first lesson... CRUCIO!"

Anna fell to her knees in excruciating pain she couldn't keep the screams from escaping her mouth as the pain radiated through her body.

"Dad! What are you doing?" Ambrose shouted over his sister's screams ad her tried to move closer to Anna.

"If she wants to be an Auror she has to be able to fight off the cruciatus curse." Carsen replied, not taking his eyes off his writhing daughter.

"But she hasn't had training! You could kill her!"

"If she can't fight off the curse to start with, she isn't worth my time. If she dies in the process, well, I guess she will have learned her lesson."

"You're crazy! Stop it!" Ambrose yelled as he stepped in front of his father, breaking off his line of sight to administer the curse.

Anna collapsed to the ground gasping for air. Her brother fell to the ground next to her scooping her up in his arms to help her calm down. Tears were streaming down her face as the residual effects of the curse pulsed through her body.

"Pathetic." Carsen spat at his daughter.

As if a fire had awoken in her, Anna suck in a painful breath before struggling to stand up as Ambrose helped her. She would not let her father win. Not today.

"Again." She said weakly as she stood in her place, leaning against Ambrose for support.

"Anna, you shouldn't..." Ambrose began but Anna pushed him away as she tried to stand tall as she faced her father.

"Again." She stated, this time stronger than the first.

Carsen laughed, happy to give his daughter what she asked for. Once again, he cast the curse on Anna and she could feel the pain course through her.

But she didn't fall to the ground. Instead she stood there in her place, eyes closed, focusing all of her energy into her hatred for her father and allowing it keep her strong against his curse. She could feel him push more effort into the curse since she had not fallen as easily as the first time.

Once she felt as if she was in control, she opened her eyes and set her steely gaze on her father daring him on. The curse was lifted from her as Carsen dropped his wand arm.

"Looks like you get your wish." He stated bitterly before storming out of the room.

Anna let out a breath she didn't realize she had been holding as she fell back into Ambrose's arms, no longer able to support herself. Looking up at her brother's face, she let out a disbelieving laugh. Despite feeling physically and emotionally drained, she had won. Annalisse Blayke, age fifteen, had just successfully fought off her father's cruciatus curse.


End file.
